| A view from the opposition - you will all like this! 18:58 - Feb 1 with 2153 views | Big_Phil |
.....I like what I'm reading boys!!!!!
#FreedJackCork
Before we get to the match itself let me instead give a lament to Cork leaving. There are perhaps few players where the disconnect between the fans and the staff is wider then with the talented Carshalton native. You'll struggle to see a fan with a bad word to say about him and most want him to have played more over the past two seasons. Yet neither Pochettino or Koeman seemed to particularly rate him and after telling him he wasn't wanted over the summer before trying to move him out when the Taider lone ended in a farce and the turbulance at Crystal Palace meant their offer fell through I can understand why he turned down our new contract and looked for climates new. Cork is in the prime of his career and far too good a player to be reduced to sitting on the bench behind academy prospects.
So, what can Swansea fans expect?
In my view Cork is one of, if not the, most flexible and adaptable midfielders in the Premier League. Played deep he is an excellent defensive shield, cutting off attacks before they can begin, hassaling oposition players and forcing them back and reducing passing options while protecting the ball exceptionally well himself, recycling possession, always being avaliable and being able to launch attacks himself. In our difficult first season back in the Premier League our defence (and results) improved almost instantaneously once he returned from the injury he picked up while with the Olympic squad. Further up the pitch he's underated creatively; it is frequently forgotten that he was our main attacking creative outlet in the Championship and it was through him that the likes of Lambert and Lallana (to say nothing of David Connolly and Billy Sharp) were able to do so well. Played in the centre of the park in a more box-to-box role he was able to combine those attributes, his exceptional workrate and fitness meaning he can keep doing that for the whole 90 minutes.
Frankly there has to be something off the pitch which is why he's not favoured; to me there's no reason he shouldn't be fighting for a starting spot against Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Davis and JWP... not fighting to get on the bench.
It becomes especially strange when you look at our current squad, injuries and all. While Swansea may not be the team to take the most advantage of this with both Schneiderlin and Wanyama out a defensive shield of Davis and Reed is lacking; both work hand but neither have much in the way of presence or the ability to force the opposition off the ball. Cork does and while it would of course be foolish to base long-term transfer policy on what players are available for the couple of weeks between Cork's own return from injury and Schneiderlin/Wanyama getting healthy it still leaves us open... that Gomis chance 12 minutes into the first half is a perfect example of this with Shelvey being able to run virtually unopposed and set up Gomis.
So, for the match itself.
Bugger.
The first 12 minutes consisted of us out-Swansea'ing Swansea. We constantly kept possession, never gave Swansea a chance to breathe, let alone attack, threatened down the wings and created chances. And then on about 12 and a half minutes we were given a reminder of the curse of Southampton; not scoring when we have the momentum and then giving the opposition a chance to snatch the lead. That opportunity gave Swansea confidence and while I'd argue we were still the better team it was nothing like the one-way traffic of earlier. If we'd been able to get that early goal I think we could have blown Swansea out... not having that cutting edge meant we let Swansea back in. In fact pretty much the entire first half can be described that way... we were clearly the superior team playing the superior football but without a goal we had nothing to show for it.
That came back to haunt us... as did the lack of a defensive shield. We may have dominated the first half and the start of the second half but by about the 60 minute mark Swansea evidently decided they were bored with being a punching bag and decided to punch back... and they very nearly did. With our midfield (especially with Reed off and JWP replacing him playing deeper) not being able to offer any real control it came quite and end to end affair with Shelvey able to make dangerous runs through the middle of the park and bring Gomis into the game. That doesn't particularly suit us and it gave Swansea chances. Chances they eventually took. We had 60 minutes to score a goal and kill the game off. We couldn't do that and we paid the price. Someone like Cork would have offered the persistence and the defence to stop Shelvey getting in position to take those shots... but he was sitting in the stand waiting to play for Swansea. |  | | |  |
| A view from the opposition - you will all like this! on 19:04 - Feb 1 with 2074 views | icecoldjack |
Fair comments there .
Look forward to seeing Jack Cork play. Fulton had a massive game today and stepped up where Tom Carrol was invisible for long periods and certainly looks like that he knows his game time here is drawing to a close.
£5m was mentioned for Carrol, will be a good player but its a bit too soon for us, Fulton looked the better player today. |  | | |
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